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I've written a couple side project games in Heaps and I'm a big fan. If you're familiar with Pixi.js, Heaps and it's language, Haxe, will feel very similar. Ha

I've written a couple side project games in Heaps and I'm a big fan. If you're familiar with Pixi.js, Heaps and it's language, Haxe, will feel very similar. Haxe is a pretty cool language, it's similar to TypeScript but compiles to native binaries for almost all major game consoles. Heaps was apparently the framework behind Dead Cells if that says anything about the level of polish you can accomplish with this set of tools.

mftb 4y ago
At first glance it looks pretty nice. I wonder why it hasn't gotten more attention? Or did I just miss it?
- postalrat 4y ago
  I think it's a victim of godot's popularity.
  - rahil627 4y ago
- Hemospectrum 4y ago
  The whole Haxe ecosystem flies under most people's radar, partly because it evolved from what was once the Flash ecosystem. It never really qualified for the kind of "NEW SHINY THING" announcement that creates hype elsewhere. A lot of people who have written loads of games are peripherally aware of it but have never actually gotten hands-on with it.
  - Buttons840 4y ago
    I've said before, I about fell out of my chair the first time I looked at the games created with Heaps: Dead Cells and a few other top tier indie games I had been looking at. Still haven't gotten around to learning Haxe though, hopefully soon.
- ergo14 4y ago
  I really love what Nicolas is doing. But it kinda feels like whole Haxe ecosystem driving force is this one guy.
  - tkp 4y ago
    The feeling is understandable and it could be worrying, but since some years Nicolas seems to be focusing on Shiro games and game dev tooling (heaps, hide). The compiler is developed by the Haxe Foundation and the ecosystem by the community which is not that big but has quite a few talents.
- setr 4y ago
  Looking through the documentation, it’s a bit lackluster. So I always got the feeling that the primary users of the engine were the engine developers themselves
  - orthoxerox 4y ago
    That's exactly my thoughts. They had an internal engine they could open source, so they did it. Probably to simplify the management of intellectual property rights between several companies. Making it a popular choice for indie devs has never been the goal.
  - rahil627 4y ago
msk-lywenn 4y ago
And all Shiro games: Northgard, Darksburg, upcoming Wartales and Dune games. Not sure about Evoland but I wouldn't be surprised.
- toastercat 4y ago
  Yep, Evoland too! Shiro Games was founded by the creator of Haxe (Nicolas Cannasse). Smart guy.
- k_ 4y ago
  iirc evoland 2 was made with Heaps, and evoland 1 with what then became heaps.
afrodc_ 4y ago
I had no idea Dead Cells was made in this. That game is incredibly sharp. Need to play around with this as it seems relatively simple.
- stryan 4y ago
  Haxe (the language Heaps uses) was initially written by Nicolas Cannasse, who worked at Motion Twin for a while; not sure if he was part of the team that did Dead Cells. So it's not a big surprise. Still, that's a big +1 for Heaps/Haxe then Dead Cells runs fantastically. EDIT: Ah, looking into it more Nicolas also founded Shiro Games who made Evoland, Northgard, etc. So it might just be following him around (not to disparage it, still looks great).
- imachine1980_ 4y ago
  is really cool, is 3d under the hood, then they make a 2d pixel render over. article of gamasutra about the gaming pipeline of dead cells https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/art-design-deep-dive-using-a-3d-pipeline-for-2d-animation-in-i-dead-cells-i- https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/art-design-deep-div...
  - Forgeties79 4y ago
    That was an absolutely fantastic read. Thank you for that!
noduerme 4y ago
Pixi.js has been a lifesaver for generating interactive art/data pieces since the death of AS3, which used to be my main bag. I remember messing around with HaXe ten years ago or so, the main problem being most of the fl. graphics APIs were not ported at that time and the idea of rewriting my own GUIs and game engines built on those didn't make much sense. I'm not sure it does now, either. If this had a 1:1 naming system, e.g. Sprite and Graphics and Stage, I'd be all in. But so much of my 2D game code was based on extending Starling atlases, etc. and now that's all dead. I'd be afraid to invest the time needed to port it to a relatively exotic and not so well known framework... which still requires a well maintained VM to run.
- tkp 4y ago
  Heaps has it's own API, but other Haxe frameworks[1][2] reimplement the flash API. Some tools[3][4] help to convert AS3 source code to Haxe, and the typing and compiler are helpful to identify issues. So depending on the size and dependencies, conversion can be easy once you get past the main language differences. [1] https://www.openfl.org/ https://www.openfl.org/ [2] https://github.com/haxenme/NME https://github.com/haxenme/NME [3] https://github.com/HaxeFoundation/as3hx https://github.com/HaxeFoundation/as3hx [4] https://github.com/innogames/ax3 https://github.com/innogames/ax3

mftb 4y ago

At first glance it looks pretty nice. I wonder why it hasn't gotten more attention? Or did I just miss it?

postalrat 4y ago
I think it's a victim of godot's popularity.
- rahil627 4y ago
Hemospectrum 4y ago
The whole Haxe ecosystem flies under most people's radar, partly because it evolved from what was once the Flash ecosystem. It never really qualified for the kind of "NEW SHINY THING" announcement that creates hype elsewhere. A lot of people who have written loads of games are peripherally aware of it but have never actually gotten hands-on with it.
- Buttons840 4y ago
  I've said before, I about fell out of my chair the first time I looked at the games created with Heaps: Dead Cells and a few other top tier indie games I had been looking at. Still haven't gotten around to learning Haxe though, hopefully soon.
ergo14 4y ago
I really love what Nicolas is doing. But it kinda feels like whole Haxe ecosystem driving force is this one guy.
- tkp 4y ago
  The feeling is understandable and it could be worrying, but since some years Nicolas seems to be focusing on Shiro games and game dev tooling (heaps, hide). The compiler is developed by the Haxe Foundation and the ecosystem by the community which is not that big but has quite a few talents.
setr 4y ago
Looking through the documentation, it’s a bit lackluster. So I always got the feeling that the primary users of the engine were the engine developers themselves
- orthoxerox 4y ago
  That's exactly my thoughts. They had an internal engine they could open source, so they did it. Probably to simplify the management of intellectual property rights between several companies. Making it a popular choice for indie devs has never been the goal.
- rahil627 4y ago

msk-lywenn 4y ago

And all Shiro games: Northgard, Darksburg, upcoming Wartales and Dune games. Not sure about Evoland but I wouldn't be surprised.

toastercat 4y ago
Yep, Evoland too! Shiro Games was founded by the creator of Haxe (Nicolas Cannasse). Smart guy.
k_ 4y ago
iirc evoland 2 was made with Heaps, and evoland 1 with what then became heaps.

afrodc_ 4y ago

I had no idea Dead Cells was made in this. That game is incredibly sharp. Need to play around with this as it seems relatively simple.

stryan 4y ago
Haxe (the language Heaps uses) was initially written by Nicolas Cannasse, who worked at Motion Twin for a while; not sure if he was part of the team that did Dead Cells. So it's not a big surprise. Still, that's a big +1 for Heaps/Haxe then Dead Cells runs fantastically. EDIT: Ah, looking into it more Nicolas also founded Shiro Games who made Evoland, Northgard, etc. So it might just be following him around (not to disparage it, still looks great).
imachine1980_ 4y ago
is really cool, is 3d under the hood, then they make a 2d pixel render over. article of gamasutra about the gaming pipeline of dead cells https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/art-design-deep-dive-using-a-3d-pipeline-for-2d-animation-in-i-dead-cells-i- https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/art-design-deep-div...
- Forgeties79 4y ago
  That was an absolutely fantastic read. Thank you for that!

noduerme 4y ago

Pixi.js has been a lifesaver for generating interactive art/data pieces since the death of AS3, which used to be my main bag. I remember messing around with HaXe ten years ago or so, the main problem being most of the fl. graphics APIs were not ported at that time and the idea of rewriting my own GUIs and game engines built on those didn't make much sense. I'm not sure it does now, either. If this had a 1:1 naming system, e.g. Sprite and Graphics and Stage, I'd be all in. But so much of my 2D game code was based on extending Starling atlases, etc. and now that's all dead. I'd be afraid to invest the time needed to port it to a relatively exotic and not so well known framework... which still requires a well maintained VM to run.

tkp 4y ago
Heaps has it's own API, but other Haxe frameworks[1][2] reimplement the flash API. Some tools[3][4] help to convert AS3 source code to Haxe, and the typing and compiler are helpful to identify issues. So depending on the size and dependencies, conversion can be easy once you get past the main language differences. [1] https://www.openfl.org/ https://www.openfl.org/ [2] https://github.com/haxenme/NME https://github.com/haxenme/NME [3] https://github.com/HaxeFoundation/as3hx https://github.com/HaxeFoundation/as3hx [4] https://github.com/innogames/ax3 https://github.com/innogames/ax3